Dr Anna Bielak-Żmijewska from the Laboratory of Molecular Basis of Ageing, the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland, will give a talk at the 11th World Congress on Polyphenols Applications about the role of sirtuins, called the enzymes of youth, in the regulation of cellular senescence and ageing, and the role of polyphenols in activation of these enzymes.

Aging is an inescapable/unavoidable process. However, the existing data prove that it is malleable and can be effectively slowed down. Ageing is characteristic for almost all living organisms. We are getting older because our cells senesce. Cellular senescence leads to increased low grade inflammation and impairs proper functioning of tissues and organs. One of the promising targets for anti-aging medicine are sirtuins, enzymes strongly involved in DNA repair, telomere maintenance, epigenetic modification of both histones and DNA, and in regulation of many processes involved in homeostasis maintenance in the whole organism. Searching for activators of these enzymes is currently one of the most promising elements of anti-aging strategy and one of the least invasive approaches. It is suggested that some polyphenols are full of promise as activators of sirtuins.